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Japan
Destroyers/DD Japanese destroyers rely on remaining unspotted and depend heavily on making good use of their torpedoes; the tech tree splits at Tier V after Isokaze, with one line focusing on torpedoes and the other on gunnery. The torpedo-centric line tends to have weak, slow-turning main battery guns that are generally not worth firing unless they happen to be pointing in the enemy's direction. Even then, it is frequently better to hold fire to maintain concealment. Concealment issues are exacerbated with the Smoke Generator on Japanese destroyers having fewer charges and shorter durations, giving captains less flexibility to get out of sticky situations. Fortunately, from Tier IX, their concealment values are above average; Tier X's Shimakaze has the best concealment value at her tier. Their torpedoes are unmatched at every tier, having the highest damage and longest ranges of any vessel that can equip torpedoes. This allows them to snipe enemy warships while well out of visual range. Starting with Yu''gumo'' at Tier IX, their guns begin to be more effective. However, while these torpedoes have a long range and are fast, they also have the worst detectability out of all the nations. The gunnery-focused line does not mean that they become pseudo-American destroyers, but many of the quirks of the torpedo-focused destroyers are addressed to a certain degree, increasing the all-round capabilities of the ships while still keeping the distinctive characteristics of Japanese destroyers. However, all these improvements are implemented in an arduously gradual process — captains will only start seeing real differences once they reach Shiratsuyu and Akizuki at Tiers VII and VIII, respectively. Their turret-turning speeds are improved, their guns fire faster and further (shell damage and velocities are largely the same) and they have better anti-aircraft suites. Amazingly, until Tier VIII their concealment values are better than that of the torpedo-focused line, and both lines have access to the same models of torpedoes. What's more, the gunnery-focused line gets a better version of the Torpedo Reload Booster consumable! As an added bonus, starting from Akizuki, the destroyers mount the Japanese 100mm guns with increased HE shell penetration allowing them to penetrate 25mm armor plating naturally. When paired with the Inertia Fuse for HE Shells commander skill, these guns can penetrate up to 32mm of armor, allowing them to penetrate the bow armor and plating of most high-tier battleships and cruisers. Tier X's Harugumo is the epitome of the IJN gunboat destroyer, spraying copious quantities of shells in all directions. Unfortunately, these ships are equipped with fewer torpedo launchers with longer default reload times, and their mobility is among the worst for destroyers, with inferior speed, maneuverability, and underwhelming acceleration. Further compounding the maneuverability issues are their massive size and larger-than-average detection range from Tier VIII onwards. With all of these quirks, the gunnery-focused destroyers are essentially pseudo-light cruisers. Cruisers/CL-CA Japanese cruisers tend to have fewer guns housed in slow-turning turrets, coupled with excellent maneuverability and concealment values, and virtually all of them are equipped with a complement of torpedoes that are on par with their destroyer cousins - at the higher tiers, these torpedo tubes will often be located aft of the vessel hampering firing arcs. As such, do not be fooled if a Japanese cruiser starts turning away mid-fight; they may have very likely just launched a spread of torpedoes in your direction. From Tier V's Furutaka onwards, they are equipped with accurate, powerful guns that, while lacking in rate of fire, have reasonable shell arcs and velocity and are able to reliably penetrate or set their enemies on fire; their high explosive shells have some of the highest chances among all cruisers in World of Warships to set targets on fire. Their anti-aircraft suites are sufficient for self-defense, but captains will be hard-pressed to protect their teammates. Tier X's Zao is considered the very pinnacle of Japanese cruiser design: difficult to detect, she strikes first and hard. She is capable of giving enemy ships a nasty surprise when they are at close range and is a highly effective surface combatant in all situations. Battleships/BB Japanese battleships were somewhat restricted by the Washington Naval Treaty, forcing them to resort to unusual — but often innovative — designs in outfitting their battleships. This resulted in battleships that have widely varying characteristics: the ponderous and slow Kawachi; the fast and agile Kongo; and the well-balanced Nagato; culminating in the crown of their battleship tree, the formidable Yamato. Japanese battleships often have the highest caliber guns with the longest ranges of their tier, which they can extend even further still with Spotting Aircraft, allowing them to rain destruction upon their enemies with impunity. Many of them have good speeds and agility that belies their size and class, but their armor protection frequently lags behind their counterparts of other nations - it tends to be more evenly spread out around the entire ship, so while their citadels may not be as well-protected, at least until Yamato, they have few obvious weak spots. Like their cruiser cousins, their anti-aircraft firepower is sufficient for self-defense, but captains will want cruiser support to ward off more concentrated aerial assaults. Aircraft Carrier/CV Japanese aircraft carriers have good maneuverability and concealment values, allowing them to re-position and evade enemies exceptionally well. Japanese Torpedo squadrons carry the best air-borne torpedoes in the game which allow players to drop their load at safer distances from anti-air. Japanese carriers also have planes with the lowest health pools resulting in lower survivability when engaging ships with high anti-air capabilities. Poor or reckless endangerment of their squadrons will end up in the carrier running out of aircraft and thus being of limited use to the team. Hakuryu — or G15 Taiho Mod. 2 in official designation — currently represents the pinnacle of what IJN carriers might have achieved, as it can theoretically destroy even the toughest battleships with sheer squadron numbers alone. Premium Ships WOWSB currently has 8 Premium Ships for the IJN line.